A Feasibility Study of the Application of Hydraulic Buoyant Capsule to a power-Free Delivery System of Goods in a Building

Yuji Tomita, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan

Teruyuki Iwasaka, Youich Utazu, Keiji Shinohara, Meada Corporation, Japan

Toshio Kuraishi, Meada Seisakusho Co, Ltd. Japan

A power-free delivery system of goods in a building is proposed. Goods are loaded in a capsule at the bottom dispatch station of the building and are delivered to the vertically upward destination in respective floor through a hydraulic capsule pipeline by using buoyant force, and using gravitational force through a pneumatic capsule pipeline to the dispatch station collects the used capsules. It is possible to add various pipeline elements such as diverters, valves and bends for the flexible delivery of goods. A numerical model of the buoyant capsule is presented for the vertical upward hydraulic pipeline and the factors, which affect on the capsule motion, are discussed. The model is unsteady and one-dimensional. The capsule is cylindrical. The calculation of water flow is based on the method of characteristics and the water flow through the clearance between pipe wall and capsule is calculated as well. The capsule rapidly attains a constant velocity for a given geometry of pipe and capsule. The capsule velocity depends on the specific gravity of capsule, diameter ratio between the pipe and the capsule. To validate the numerical model of buoyant capsule, a small-scale experiment is carried out.